Search results for: "Suffering"

  1. Page 108
  2. Motivation
     … And if you don’t work on the skills, there’s going to be a lot of suffering. If you do work on the skills, you can avoid the suffering. Heedfulness means you have a choice. It’s not just a matter seeing dangers and getting all upset and scared. It’s the heedfulness that allows you to develop skill because you know there … 
  3. The Buddha’s Medicine
     … So as a good precaution, you have to go on the assumption that as long as there’s suffering, as long as there’s stress, you’re still suffering from delusion. That means there’s always something new to learn. There’s always the possibility that you might be misreading the diagnosis or applying the wrong medicine. That’s why it’s important to … 
  4. Pleasant Practice, Painful Practice
     … If we do it in ignorance, it’s going to cause suffering. So we bring the other factors that shape our experience—our ways of directing our thoughts to a topic and evaluating it—and we apply them to the breath in a way that also gives rise to the way we shape the mind through feelings and perceptions. In other words, we have … 
  5. The Kamma of Self & Not-Self
     … By that he means if you feel like giving up on the path, you remind yourself that you embarked on this path to begin with because you wanted to put an end to suffering. And if you give up on the path, do you really love yourself? So those are cases where your sense of self as being responsible, as being capable, is necessary … 
  6. The Heart of the Teachings
     … He did it so that he could find the way to the end of suffering, and teach it to others so that they could find the end of suffering as well. So in putting his teaching in practice, we’re honoring his intention. At the same time, we’re benefitting. So focus on your breath, because that’s one of the Buddha’s teachings … 
  7. If at First You Don’t Succeed
     … He set out as our goal the end of suffering, and he describes it in different ways. There’s a passage in the Canon where he gives 33 different names for nibbāna: nibbāna being the image of a fire going out. Most of the names are metaphorical, either that or they’re negative descriptions describing what nibbāna does not have, because after all, nibbāna … 
  8. Right Livelihood
     … When pushed for the third time, he finally says, “When you’re in the midst of battle, giving rise to the desire for the killing of other beings — ’May these other beings suffer, may they be harmed, may they be killed’ — that mind state, if you die then, will take you to the hell of heroes who die in battle.” Like the actor, the … 
  9. Goodwill for the Real World
     … What would you gain, what would anybody gain, by seeing that person suffer? You think it through, and you realize that nothing would be gained. Then focus on what you’re doing as you think these thoughts. You’re engaging in directed thought and evaluation. That’s verbal fabrication. And you hold in mind those images—the images of the bandits sawing you into … 
  10. No Running Away
     … Honest goodwill goes through all the people, “Is there anybody out there that you really have trouble feeling goodwill for?” And you have to ask yourself, “Why? What do you gain by having ill will for somebody? Why would you want that person to suffer?” And part of your mind will say, “Well, they did this and they did that, either to me or … 
  11. Treating the Diseases of the Mind
     … We all have diseases in our minds—not necessarily the really heavy kinds of diseases that they put you in an institution for, but we do suffer from greed, aversion, and delusion. We suffer from the hindrances, the fetters. There are long, long lists of the problems of the mind. So we want to make sure we take the right medicine. When we think … 
  12. Appropriate Attention Plus Admirable Friendship
     … Remember, this is the path to the end of suffering. As the Buddha said, there are two factors that are important in leading to awakening: the internal factor is something he calls appropriate attention, the external factor is admirable friendship. Appropriate attention means seeing things in terms of the four noble truths and the duties of those truths. So when you remind yourself that … 
  13. On Being Non-reactive
     … pain, suffering, stress? The Buddha’s answer is that we’re not fully aware of what we’re doing. We’re not paying appropriate attention, seeing it in the terms of what we’re doing that’s causing stress and what we’re doing—or what we could do—to put an end to that stress. That requires that you step out of the … 
  14. In the Mood to Meditate
     … You recognize that the suffering you cause yourself and others is something that you can learn how not to do. You’re taking responsibility for it. And you’re going to learn the skills that help you to stop doing the cause that gives rise to suffering, whatever that cause may be. This is a good thing. There are so many people out there … 
  15. Three More Recollections
     … What, when you do it, will lead to long-term welfare and happiness? What when you do it, will lead to long-term harm and suffering? The Dhamma keeps you focused on what you’re doing right now, and the importance of what you’re doing right now. So having that kind of learning in your mind helps to catch you when you’re … 
  16. Directing the Flow
    The mind well trained brings happiness; the mind untrained brings suffering and stress. The Buddha once said that it’s a sign of a wise person to realize how much the mind needs training. If it’s untrained, it’s like an untrained animal. If you have a dog that hasn’t been trained, it can’t live in the house. If a horse … 
  17. The Wear & Tear of Life
     … You can see how that habit of appropriation causes a lot of suffering. And so the sense of distance you get from your thoughts and your emotions here is not a cold distance. It’s the distance of sanity. It heals the mind in ways even the breath can’t heal, by having that sense of perspective on things that can help pull you … 
  18. Think Calmly about Death
     … They may give their results, but if your attitude is right, you don’t have to suffer from them. The right attitude basically comes from developing virtue, concentration, and discernment—and particularly concentration around the brahmaviharas, the sublime attitudes. Learn how to make your mind spacious. Have goodwill for all beings. There was the time when the Buddha had a wound in his foot … 
  19. Thinking About Rebirth
     … all the food you’ve had to eat, and all the creatures who’ve had to suffer because of your eating. Even if you’re eating vegetarian or vegan food, there are all the farmers who have had to suffer to grow that food for you. This process simply keeps going on and on and on. Just that thought should be enough to make … 
  20. Negotiating with the Committee
     … What when I do it will be for my long-term welfare and happiness? What when I do it will be for my long-term harm and suffering? These question are wise because you see that your actions are responsible for your happiness or your suffering, you realize that long-term happiness is better than short-term, and you realize also that you can … 
  21. Simplify
     … With all the energy that goes into the effort — and sometimes the suffering and stress that go into the effort — we want good results to show for what we’ve done, so we can look back at our lives and say, yes, that was a life well spent. A life well worth the effort involved. At the very end of life, it’s all … 
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